when nellie ends his run, they should try & get a defensive minded coach. all of nellie's disciples, popovich, avery & karl, saw the flaws in nellie's approach and have become defensive-minded coaches. all 3 have taken teams to the nba finals.

IIRC, I got called out big time for proposing that at the beginning of the year. The problem -- if you can call it a problem -- is (a) we've already won to many games to be in the Oden hunt; and (b) you can't expect good-to-great NBA players like Baron and Harrington just to tank games. I'm guessing this team will come back with a vengeance and get us all excited again, only to blow a couple heartbreakers and end up 4 or 5 games out of the playoffs ... again.

If we really want a shot at Oden or Durant, we can't do it half- assedly: we need to trade everybody we can except Monta and Biedrins, lose a ton of games starting now, and hoard a few other teams' first round picks in the process. Personally, given what a hot draft this is shaping up to be, I sort of like the idea of starting over with Monta, Biedrins and like five first-rounders. Al Harrington to Boston, Baron Davis to Philly, and JRich to Memphis, anyone?

/ ducks flying rocks and bottles /

Yeah, I'm kidding, mostly -- but this is getting old...

I agree with you that our Oden ship has probably sailed. The time to make the decision to tank would have been earlier in the season, as Philly did by dumping Iverson.

So would you rather be in Philly or Boston's shoes or ours? To me, it's a tough call. If those teams continue on their current paths, sure, they'll only have a 20-25% shot at Oden -- but another 20-25% shot at Kevin Durant (who may end up the best draft prospect since LeBron) and, in the consensus best draft in years, a 100% shot at a Top-5 player.

Now we, on the other hand, have all but given up on Lotto and hitched our wagon to the outside possibility of passing both Minnesota and the Clips and eking out the eight playoff seed. The Clips are 2.5 games ahead of us; and Minnesota is 1.5 up, playing better ball  (viz. recent win over the Suns), and have three more home games remaining than we do.

I don't think we're out of the hunt by any stretch, but losing these two totally winnable games has totally hurt our chances. As long as we're talking percentages, this is about how I'd rate ours right now:

19% -- make playoffs, get knocked out in first round
1% -- make playoffs, advance to second round
77% -- miss playoffs, miss lottery, pick in the #9-14 range
3% -- make lottery

Most likely scenario by far: no playoffs, no lottery -- basically  total no man's land, once again. Is that really a so much better place than a 40-50% shot at Oden or Durant? I'm not so sure.

I do agree with you that we shouldn't overreact to the two losses, GSW, but really, what is there to be so optimistic about?

jrich still doesnt add length or the ability to keep his man in front of him to this team. all his return will bring is even more ineffectiveness from pietrus, azubuike, sarunas & barnes(which is what the pacer trade has basically done). as well as make sjax even more ineffective.

on the plus side, even though it'll reduce his minutes, it'll probably help monta (b/c he'll be playing against 2nd stringers & b/c monta seems more effective w/o baron - he's pretty much a spot up shooter w/ baron in the game, & a bad one at that). jrich will help their halfcourt offense if they set weakside screams for him and if his leg & hand return to form. but not if they just iso him in the post.

ppl point to our victories against the spurs, mavs, jazz, & orlando, but even the bobcats have beaten the spurs, detroit, lakers, cleveland & orlando. it could just be the opposition underestimating us.

according to jerry west, the w's are a team w/ avg talent that plays hard - supposedly the grizzlies don't play hard.

I mean look at Atlanta -- they totally suck, and just the other night they kicked a pretty decent team's asses. At least I think it was a pretty decent team...